Role of phagocytic cells in cancer

Partial manifestations of the anti-tumor defence in the organism will sometimes lead to surprising changes in the clinical picture of the disease. This must be taken into consideration and, if possible, such therapeutical procedures must be chosen which do not interfere with the course of defence reactions. Therefore, the study of the organism's anti-tumor defence mechanisms is of theoretical as well as of practical value. In Hodgkin's disease a significant increase in phagocytic activity could be observed when the disease was in progress; during clinical remission the values returned to normal ones [181]. The phagocytic activity may be supposed to reflect the dynamic situation between the host and the tumor in man [196]. The determination of phagocytic activity may be useful as an indicator of the extent or activity of the disease [181]. Phagocytic function may be affected by a surgical intervention [46], radiotherapy [179, 183] and by anti-tumor chemotherapy [3, 209]. On stimulating MPS during the course of radiotherapy, improved clinical results have been observed [115]. When examining patients in the course of treatment and after it, a need was felt for methods that can easily be applied and that enable the state of the defence capacity of the organism to be taken into account. The measurement of the phagocytic activity of MPS in clinical practice by using the 131I labelled aggregated human albumin [115] can only be used at selected workplaces. Today, however, drugs and therapeutical procedures with immunosuppressive effects are virtually used in all workplaces where there are patients with malignant tumors. Therefore, an original method of phagocytosis of latex particles in vitro has been elaborated. This method is primarily aimed at orientation, but it may be employed in every hematological laboratory. It determines the intensity of phagocytic activity of leukocytes. The differences between the values obtained in cancer and those obtained in healthy subjects and patients with non-malignant disorders are highly significant. This statement has been made on the basis of 363 examinations performed in clinically healthy subjects, in patients with cancer and in patients with non-malignant disorders. The results were analyzed statistically and it has been found out that the phagocytic capacity of leukocytes is significantly activated in the presence of a pathological process in the organism. This activation is mush more evident in cancer patients than in patients with non-malignant disorders. Strikingly low values were observed in the terminal stage of the disease when the defence capacity of the organism has broken down. These findings induced us to consider the suitability of this kind of examination. It can be used alone or in combination with other methods for estimating the defence capacity of the organism, or for choosing the right therapeutical measures...